Friday, 29 June 2012

It is all about Attitude Not Age

It makes me laugh when people say that they can't use technology such as PCs or Mobile Phones or DVD players because of their age. It also makes me laugh when other people say this about them, and that you have to make allowances because of an individuals age. Nonsense! I was born in August 1976. Myself and my generation did not grow up with DVD players, DVD recorders, MP3 players, USB sticks, Mobile phones, Personal Computers, The Internet, social media such as Facebook (Which I am on) and Twitter (Which I am not). We did not have Freeview, or topboxes or multi-channel TV. We only had the old BBC computers. We had the old Analogue system. We did not have flat screen TV's in the late 1980's and the early 1990's.

The first ever time I used the Internet was on the evening of Monday 8th September 1997. The first time I got a Mobile Phone was at Christmas 2001. The first DVD player I got and used was on Tuesday 4th February 2003. The first time I got an MP3 player was on Wednesday 23rd March 2005. The first time I went on Facebook was in late August 2006. I got them, used them, moved on and adapted. I have had four Mobile phones since then. Yahoo was the main search engine when I first used the Internet. I have had four MP3 players since March 2005. If I had taken the view that I couldn't move with the times and adapt, I would still be listening to a Walkman, watching Analogue TV, which is practically impossible now anyway as it has been turned off. I wouldn't have a Mobile phone, I wouldn't be using the Internet. I wouldn't be on Facebook. I would still be using Video players and records and wouldn't have a Flat Screen TV. More to the point, I wouldn't be writing this now, because I wouldn't have access to a blog! The world did not stop in 1990 or 2000 or 2010.

For me it is all a matter of attitude: Age is irrelevant. You are never too old to learn, adapt and move with the times. Never. When you adapt that attitude, the only thing preventing you from doing so is yourself.